Acrid Aftertaste
by ApolloBlackwood
Summary: Already between DGS 2-3 and DGS 2-4 a lot of things are happening behind the scenes. But all of it had begun with the appearance of the Masked Disciple and Prosecutor Barok van Zieks is in the middle of everything, no matter how you look at the mystery surrounding the Reaper of Old Bailey. (Post 2-3 but Pre 2-4). DGS 1 (character) and DGS2 spoilers. Also a tag for racism


**Acrid Aftertaste**

-x-

Ann: DGS 1 and 2 spoilers (characterwise, plotwise more DGS2), racism

* * *

-x-

Two different pair of feet walked down the hallway – one person walked briskly, their cane acting as a third leg with accompanying sound on the black hard tiles. The other one had light steps, still full of determination but following a certain pattern, like during a duel, a sword fight without any opponent …

„Lord Vortex?" Prosecutor Barok van Zieks stood up from his desk when he saw them enter, his eternally dark face growing darker when he saw the person beside Vortex. „What is the meaning of this?", he asked sharply.

Vortex seized his companion by the arm and drew him closer so that the other man stood in front of Vortex and in full sight of Van Zieks'. He did not smile nor chortle even though he felt this was a very joyous occasion, no – on the outside he kept his icy glare, competing with Van Zieks' deadly gaze.

"This will be your disciple from now on, Prosecutor Van Zieks. I expect you instruct him well. I want him to prosecute in Old Bailey alongside you." His fingers on the man's shoulder twitched ever so lightly and he moved to take his pocket watch. "I can't afford to waste anymore time here – I'm already two hours 43 minutes and 27 seconds late for the next meeting."

Van Zieks stood up from his place behind his desk, walked up to Vortex and his disciple and crossed his arms in front of his chest. His gaze was befitting that of the Reaper of the Old Bailey when he looked down on the other man.

"What's his name?", he asked. Vortex let his pocket watch snap shut and put it away.

"It will suffice to call him your disciple. I have instructed him how to behave on our way here. Your only concern should be to teach him the ways of a prosecutor, Prosecutor Van Zieks." Vortex beat the tip of his cane on the tiles and made a dismissive gesture. "I have to excuse myself. Figure things out with your disciple from now on."

Both Van Zieks and his new disciple stood motionless until Vortex's footsteps were no longer be heard in the distance. Then Van Zieks allowed his shoulders to drop and he frowned at the Japanese man, feeling the utmost hatred welling up inside his soul.

"You better not stand in my way, _disciple._" It annoyed him that the disciple put a fist against his broad chest and bowed slightly in his direction so Van Zieks turned away abruptly, walked to his desk and leaned with both hands on the table surface against it, his back turned on the stranger. He directed his gaze outside of the window to the icy blue sky, battling the frustration he often felt when dealing with unexpected occasions such as this one.

"How good is your knowledge of law? And how does Vortex expect me to work with a _Japanese_?", he made the last word sound like a swear word. Van Zieks knew that Vortex did this on purpose, salt into a still fresh and open wound. And he knew that Vortex knew.

The disciple kept quiet.

Van Zieks turned around, leaning against his desk, and crossed his arms in front of his chest again. _Not a man of many words then? I guess even Japanese people can have their secrets._

"You'll sort my paperwork. I will have to ascertain your knowledge level of judicial proceedings soon enough but for now I have trials to prepare." He gestured at his own desk and was mildly surprised when the disciple immediately got to work.

It reminded him of things he didn't want to think back to. Past encounters, lost values and all of it connected to troublesome Japanese people - so instead he turned his thoughts toward that other Japanese he had to judge yet, the defense attorney of Old Bailey, who would fight like a lion for his client's innocence …

… _except the client's name is Cosney Megundal._

Van Zieks picked up the Godly Chalice from his desk, poured himself some wine and walked around his office to stand in front of his brother's enormous painting. The wine's fragrance on his tongue was as bittersweet as his memories of Klimt van Zieks -

"I'm through with them."

The sudden unfamiliar voice made Van Zieks react instinctively and he tossed his Godly Chalice toward the voice's source. The disciple, who was standing near and had spoken up, jumped to the side in time and the Godly Chalice shattered against Van Zieks' desk without hitting the Japanese.

Van Zieks lifted a hand to his forehead and shook his head with a sigh.

"So you _do _talk." He would never admit to a possibly faulty reaction to this situation, especially not toward this individual. "You are finished? Then let me see." Van Zieks took the papers and skimmed them but it was true, his disciple had not been lying.

_It took him five minutes to get all of this done?_

Van Zieks looked up and met this man's stoic gaze without blinking.

_Who are you?_

"Then let us go over the details once more, shall we?", he proposed.

Over the course of days he figured this man knew a lot about law and judicial proceedings. He was a quick learner and an even quicker researcher no matter what the topic at hand was. Van Zieks' disciple also was a man of very few words and good in bypassing troubles though he did draw attention with his unusual attire (it had turned out Vortex gave him orders to wear a mask to conceal his nationality to the English audience). The prosecutor did not exactly trust in this man (he _was _of unknown background after all, not to mention that he was Japanese) but he did grow accustomed to his ways after a while and began to see advantages in his disciple rather soon.

-x-

"So, Mister Reaper, you tasted blood again?"

"Blood, Holmes?" Van Zieks put a hand against his chin, swirling the wine in a Godly Chalice with his other one. The Great Detective put a pointing finger against his forehead with that complacent facial expression of his.

"Your getup tells me several things about you. There is no escape from logic and a Great Detective's great deductions!" He pointed to the side, his eyes flickering in childish joy. "Everybody learns that at some point."

Van Zieks left it without comment, took a sip of his wine and let the wine linger on his tongue before swallowing.

"My opinion is unchanged", he answered.

"My dear Reaper! Who knows what the future may hold …?" And maybe Holmes knew more than he let shine through back then -

but that moment when that certain defense attorney of Old Bailey met Van Zieks' disciple for the first time the prosecutor noticed how unusually tense the defense attorney behaved all of a sudden. Van Zieks had talked to him on several occasions outside the courtroom, had seen him duck slightly under Vortex's and his gaze (but not more than other people did) – just this once, this was different.

And because of that Van Zieks decided to talk more openly to the attorney, to answer the questions about his disciple.

"He was instructed to not talk to anybody other than me", he said, hand against his forehead with a deep sigh. No matter how much time had passed, Van Zieks still didn't know what Vortex was pursuing in his wild chase that seemed a game in the prosecutor's eyes. At this rate he might end up too late, especially since everybody nowadays seemed to work at something behind the scenes … and Van Zieks wasn't even sure what he might end up too late for.

When the attorney had left Van Zieks asked his disciple: "Do you know this man?"

_Not to say that every Japanese knows every of his countrymen. But the attorney at least seemed to know you …_

"I … am not sure." The disciple sounded hesitant. Van Zieks walked over to his collection of Godly Chalices, picked a new bottle of wine and stretched out his arm with the bottle sideways, tilting it - in graceful choreography the disciple drew his sword and uncorked the bottle with swift strikes so Van Zieks could pour himself half a chalice.

-x-

Fate's whole dark humor struck with the Professor's case of all cases it could have been. The case where his brother, Klimt van Zieks, had been murdered by a Japanese serial killer …

"Kazuma-sama!"

Van Zieks, standing next to the Professor – Genshin Asougi – watched how his disciple took off his mask, his face full of realization and recognition. Something inside of him moved but it weren't positive feelings; he thought about how he would never be reunited with his brother ever again and when he looked at the Professor next to him the urgent and flaming hatred boiled up with new strength, beating inside his chest and forcing him to seek revenge anew, as prosecutor, in his brother's footsteps.

As the Reaper of Old Bailey.

But then he looked at the defense attorney and watched the touching scene before his eyes, watched his disciple leave the courtroom, and his hatred soothed itself in that process, the waves in his chest calmed down, and he found to his surprise that he, even though he didn't trust the defense attorney as he was standing there, Van Zieks still had a strong belief in this attorney's capability.

"I take it you do know each other after all." He felt out of place when stating this. He ought to leave them behind, the defense attorney and his legal assistant, but he had to say something at least.

"Yes." The defense attorney bowed his head but Van Zieks had already seen the brimming joy and hand in hand with it pain on the attorney's face, the traces of tears in his eyes. "Asougi is my best friend", he added.

… _Asougi?_

It was a name all too familiar. But Van Zieks had never thought he'd hear it uttered in this courtroom again, not with this relation and not by this attorney -

Van Zieks excused himself and hurried out the courtroom with long determined steps. _Asougi?_ What could be the meaning of this?

"Sir, your carriage is waiting." One of the bailiffs just made it to open the door when Van Zieks already rushed past him, jumped into the carriage and ordered the coachman to bring him to the Prosecutor's Office posthaste. His thoughts were racing: There was no mistaking it, did the disciple not even exclaim "Father" when seeing the Professor's face? It meant that this disciple, Asougi, was indeed related to Klimt's murder – and since he was, did Vortex know? Did Vortex know it when he assigned Asougi as Van Zieks' disciple? Or was this merely a cruel and twisted joke by fate, a coincidence so to speak?

_No, there are no coincidences._

So if not a coincidence, who was punishing him and what for? Did fate turn against him for posing as the Reaper without him being the Reaper? Or was it the syndicate he has been trailing, did they set up this trap to catch Van Zieks and stop his investigations once and for all?

With raising concern Van Zieks realized that this disciple had been reading all of Van Zieks' reports and law papers in the course of three months. He had probably seen the investigation that Van Zieks conducted on regular basis as well.

_Asougi …_

"We arrived, sir!", the coachman hollered and Van Zieks steeled his resolve.

His coat was fluttering behind him as he walked down the narrow corridor to his office. He opened the door forcefully enough to hit the wall with the door itself but his premonition had been correct: Asougi stood at the desk, looking over reports in his hands.

He didn't turn around when Van Zieks entered but he put the paper in his hand down.

"You knew", he stated. His voice sounded neutral – it had always sounded neutral – but there was more life in the way he was speaking, he sounded more like a person with past now than before.

"What do you have to do with this?" Van Zieks pulled his coat off his shoulders and threw it to the ground in one swift motion. He might have to draw his pistol. He needed his arms free.

"No." Asougi turned around to face Van Zieks and the hatred in his face was unconcealed. "What's_ your _role, Reaper?" He spat this sentence out like it was poison in his mouth. Asougi's hand was on his sword's hilt, the other sword's, the one that the defense attorney had given him in the courtroom.

Van Zieks crossed his arms in front of his chest, alerted.

"There is a reason why I despise the likes of you." He lifted his chin. It was so easy to sound condescending when you were faced with raw hatred yourself. "You sneak behind gentlemen's backs, waiting to murder when the chance presents itself."

"Is that how you see me?" Asougi's fingers tightened around the hilt but he did not draw the blade … yet. "Is that how you saw my father? Is that why you murdered him? Is that why you disgraced my whole family?" The edge in his voice – the hurt, the anger, the hours of sadness and grief. Van Zieks' heart began to beat faster because for a second it made him remember a similar scene, one brother lamenting his brother's death and stepping into the Bailey's court as Reaper to inherit his brother's legacy.

But no, their fate was entirely different from each other.

"The only one to have disgraced your family is your father alone", he answered coldly, his voice cold steel. Asougi's head flinched to the side as if he had been slapped and he showed his teeth but with whatever strength he straightened up and loosened the grip around his sword. It was more unsettling than the imminent threat breaths ago.

"I will prove it", he said and it sounded like a vow. "I will prove it to everyone. You will see." And without another word he rushed past Van Zieks, brushing his shoulder in order to get him out of balance but Van Zieks held against it with a dark frown.

The next morning he set out to the Justice Minister's Office and endured the four hour wait without company or a word of complaint, collecting and calming himself. Planning how to confront Vortex about this delicate matter.

"Have you come to give report about Doctor Dobinbough's whereabouts?" With this as first sentence Van Zieks could feel that the game was on. He was walking on thin ice whenever he spoke with the Justice Minister. However, Van Zieks could remember that it hadn't always been like this.

_He allowed me to prosecute the Professor's case after all._

"I wanted to talk to you about my disciple, Lord Vortex." Van Zieks had to put his head back ever so lightly to meet Vortex's eyes. He was unreadable like always but his demeanor was carefully chosen – befitting of someone who wanted to revolutionize England's whole law system.

_One step wrong and I'll fall._

"The disciple? I had the notion you were quite fond of him. Indeed you made a good impression behind the prosecutor's bench this trial. Is he ready to take on his own trials?" Vortex took out his pocket watch and started winding it up, looking bored.

"You surely have been notified about the trial's aftermath?", Van Zieks pressed his jaws together. _Especially since you know that I have sent Benjamin out of country already?_

"Ah, I received a message half an hour and 54 seconds ago, that is right." Vortex put away his watch and took his cane in both hands on breast height. "Your disciple messaged me about the peculiar matters."

_What does it mean? Did Asougi betray me already? Did he tell Vortex about my secret investigations into the Reaper's syndicate? … No, would Vortex actually directly threaten me like this if he truly knew? And would Asougi not keep the information hidden for now to pressure me instead …?_

Van Zieks shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Whatever are you talking about, Lord Vortex?"

"He seemed to have regained his memories concerning a mission he has to fulfill in London." Vortex pointed to the other side of the room with the unicorn on his cane's tip and Van Zieks was surprised to see the defense attorney of Old Bailey and his legal assistant stand there, waiting to be noticed. How long have they been waiting already? "It seems the clockwork is defective", he added. "Prosecutor Van Zieks, don't you have more urgent matters to attend to after all? I'm rather busy with the World Fair, the murder, the press and political decisions and should not be wasting time on trifling matters such as restored memories from an upcoming prosecutor. It does not change the fact that the Japanese will still be acting as your disciple. Are we clear?"

_So Asougi asked to resign?_

Van Zieks extended an arm, swung it around and took a bow in Vortex's direction. He turned to leave, walked past the defense attorney without as much as a glance and made his way to his own office. He wasn't sure if he had brushed certain doom or was walking straight into it ...

However, this episode was far from over. And his disciple with the name of his brother's murderer, Vortex, the defense attorney of Old Bailey and he himself had a major role to play in all of it in nearest future.


End file.
